Curtis Dahlgren
They "shame" us with talking points; we "bully" them with the FACTS(?)
By Curtis Dahlgren
"This is a blue collar state. When you look at the coast of Boston and the fishing industry and you look at the towns and the cities, this is a blue collar state. There is no way that the fishermen on Cape Cod are for Eliza-beth Warren fans." – Curt Schilling
TOWN VS. GOWN. HARVARD YARD V. BARNYARD. The definitive story of 2017. Rush says that the radical Left has academe, the media, and entertainment, and all Trump has is his supporters. That's okay; so far Trump has trumped them all. All these years, many traditionalists shrug the shoulders and say "What can I do?" – not really looking for an answer. WELL – here's your clue: Defend Truth (and Trump) from libelous letter writers in your local paper. In my hometown a kid wrote a snarky letter finding fault with every one of the Cabinet nominations. He even called conservatives "socially Amish" and racial bigots. I replied, and this is what the paper published:
LOL, some tips for letter writers:
- The longer the letter, the less likely people will start reading it.
- Don't waste ink on strawmen such as misrepresentations about the President's true agenda or motives.
- Don't believe everything you see on the news, and don't just parrot stuff you've heard; Desmond Tutu said, "If you want peace, don't talk to your friends, talk to your enemies" (some people don't want peace right now).
- If you want credibility, don't say to your 'enemies,' "If you disagree with me, you must be Amish hicks or a vast minority of KKKers" (someone said that the only reason people hate you is because they want to be just like you).
- Don't be bitter about one loss; there will be others.
- Be aware of ironies; sometimes the cloud IS the silver lining (the average cloud weighs 1.1 million pounds); "Never Curse the Rain," says author Jerry Apps.
- Feminists, "You can still make it after all!" – no matter who's in the White House (Mary Tyler Moore, RIP).
- Be aware of the context of history. My first letter to the editor in 1960 at age 18 was in support of VP Nixon. I wasn't thrilled about JFK because he was proposing soviet-style acreage allotments for crops (the problem then wasn't the high cost of beef, as it is now, but the cost of storing surplus crops and paying farmers not to farm too much). The allotments never materialized, and JFK did some things right – such as cutting taxes (he had seen the Adenauer miracle work in Germany's economy).
By the way, new Presidents often face the threat of a major test early on: JFK, Cuba in 1962; LBJ, Vietnam in 1964-65; W. Bush, September 11, 2001. Lincoln had hot heads in the South seize federal outposts even before Inauguration Day (teacher union leaders called for kids to play hooky on January 20, 2017). So watch out for people "testing" the President early on – and pray for him.
Conclusion: Look for the good in other people. Look at Barack Obama – he gave us Donald Trump just as Jimmie Carter gave us Ronald Reagan! As for that "Harvard law degree," Woodrow Wilson was an Ivy League president, and the world fell apart and went to hell between 1912 and 1920. So much for "leading from behind."
Dr. Thomas Sowell says, "The old are not smarter than the young . . . It is just that we have suffered the consequences that the young are going to suffer if they disregard the record of the past."
President Reagan was called an "amiable dunce" and one pundit said that it was "humiliating to think of this unlettered, self-assured bumpkin being our president" ("who taught this man letters?"). And he won the Cold War without firing a shot. That's called a paradox. "Cubs won; Trump won; Patriots won; Hell freezing over." Yes, there still is a God.
P.S. Etymologically, "sophisticated" originally meant corrupted, adulterated. And for it's worth, sophistication is related to "sophistry" and "sophomoric."
[I got some positive feedback on this letter. Try it; you'll like it.]
© Curtis Dahlgren
February 13, 2017
"This is a blue collar state. When you look at the coast of Boston and the fishing industry and you look at the towns and the cities, this is a blue collar state. There is no way that the fishermen on Cape Cod are for Eliza-beth Warren fans." – Curt Schilling
TOWN VS. GOWN. HARVARD YARD V. BARNYARD. The definitive story of 2017. Rush says that the radical Left has academe, the media, and entertainment, and all Trump has is his supporters. That's okay; so far Trump has trumped them all. All these years, many traditionalists shrug the shoulders and say "What can I do?" – not really looking for an answer. WELL – here's your clue: Defend Truth (and Trump) from libelous letter writers in your local paper. In my hometown a kid wrote a snarky letter finding fault with every one of the Cabinet nominations. He even called conservatives "socially Amish" and racial bigots. I replied, and this is what the paper published:
LOL, some tips for letter writers:
- The longer the letter, the less likely people will start reading it.
- Don't waste ink on strawmen such as misrepresentations about the President's true agenda or motives.
- Don't believe everything you see on the news, and don't just parrot stuff you've heard; Desmond Tutu said, "If you want peace, don't talk to your friends, talk to your enemies" (some people don't want peace right now).
- If you want credibility, don't say to your 'enemies,' "If you disagree with me, you must be Amish hicks or a vast minority of KKKers" (someone said that the only reason people hate you is because they want to be just like you).
- Don't be bitter about one loss; there will be others.
- Be aware of ironies; sometimes the cloud IS the silver lining (the average cloud weighs 1.1 million pounds); "Never Curse the Rain," says author Jerry Apps.
- Feminists, "You can still make it after all!" – no matter who's in the White House (Mary Tyler Moore, RIP).
- Be aware of the context of history. My first letter to the editor in 1960 at age 18 was in support of VP Nixon. I wasn't thrilled about JFK because he was proposing soviet-style acreage allotments for crops (the problem then wasn't the high cost of beef, as it is now, but the cost of storing surplus crops and paying farmers not to farm too much). The allotments never materialized, and JFK did some things right – such as cutting taxes (he had seen the Adenauer miracle work in Germany's economy).
By the way, new Presidents often face the threat of a major test early on: JFK, Cuba in 1962; LBJ, Vietnam in 1964-65; W. Bush, September 11, 2001. Lincoln had hot heads in the South seize federal outposts even before Inauguration Day (teacher union leaders called for kids to play hooky on January 20, 2017). So watch out for people "testing" the President early on – and pray for him.
Conclusion: Look for the good in other people. Look at Barack Obama – he gave us Donald Trump just as Jimmie Carter gave us Ronald Reagan! As for that "Harvard law degree," Woodrow Wilson was an Ivy League president, and the world fell apart and went to hell between 1912 and 1920. So much for "leading from behind."
Dr. Thomas Sowell says, "The old are not smarter than the young . . . It is just that we have suffered the consequences that the young are going to suffer if they disregard the record of the past."
President Reagan was called an "amiable dunce" and one pundit said that it was "humiliating to think of this unlettered, self-assured bumpkin being our president" ("who taught this man letters?"). And he won the Cold War without firing a shot. That's called a paradox. "Cubs won; Trump won; Patriots won; Hell freezing over." Yes, there still is a God.
P.S. Etymologically, "sophisticated" originally meant corrupted, adulterated. And for it's worth, sophistication is related to "sophistry" and "sophomoric."
[I got some positive feedback on this letter. Try it; you'll like it.]
© Curtis Dahlgren
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